AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Trust me.” He pressed some buttons on his phone, the light inside the house coming on and lighting up our path. “You are safe with me, Nova.” He nodded, and I unbuckled myself and stepped out.
From the outside, the house looked similar to the shabby ones we had passed on the way up, but something about it gave it more life than the others. It was small, built with red bricks and five steps leading up to the front door. I gazed over at the lake, which was almost pitch black. There wasn’t any sign of life—no lights, no boats, anywhere around it.
This was how serial killer podcasts started. I could see the headlines now:Young woman takes a midnight ride with a stranger, ends up chained in the basement and murdered.I shook my head and followed him to the front of the house. “Where are we?” I couldn’t understand the look on his face. It was as if he was torn about something.
“My childhood home.” He rocked on his heels, his hands stuffed in his pants pockets.
“Oh.” I stood next to him, and we both gazed at the front door. “It’s lovely.”
He didn’t say a word. I could sense the tension rolling off his body, and the hairs on my arms stood up. This was so confusing, but I wanted to be patient. He’d brought me here for a reason, and I wanted to know what it was.
He held onto my elbow as we took the stairs up and went inside. It was a lot more modern than it had appeared. The living room had a gray couch and loveseat, a red and black checkered blanket thrown over the back of it. A fireplace was against the back wall, although it didn’t look like it had been used in some time. There was a set of stairs to our right, leading up to the bedrooms, I assumed. We walked past them down a narrow hallway to the kitchen, which had newer appliances, but kept that vintage nineteen fifties charm with the colorful wallpaper.
“My mother loved this wallpaper.” He leaned against the countertop and ran his fingers through his hair. “When I had the kitchen redone, I couldn’t bring myself to take it down. Not sure why.” His nostrils flared slightly.
I nodded, giving him room to say what he needed.
“I bought it, right after college, with the first money Ryzen and I made together.”
I perked up at the mention of Ryzen’s name and stood opposite of him, my hands flat on the counter.
“I should have torn the whole house down. But if I had, he would have won.” Cian’s jaw was clenched, and I wasn’t sure if by “he” he meant Ryzen or someone else. I nodded, encouraging him to continue.
“This is where we grew up. My parents began fostering Eros, Orin and Thora when I was sixteen. They were all younger than me, and I felt I had to protect them from my parents. They were not good people, Nova. Not in the slightest.” He walked around the counter and took me down another hallway that had a small room in the back. “This is where they made Eros sleep. My father had it out for him the most. I never understood why.”
My hand went to my neck as I gazed around the room. It was bare. Tiny. Maybe enough room to fit a twin-size mattress. It had one window, only big enough for a small child to fit through. I sighed, the pain in my chest growing.
“Orin, Thora, and I shared a room upstairs. Except when social services came.” Cian’s words were laced with venom, and I was realizing how much contempt he had for his parents. I let him talk, only nodding when he looked to let him know I was listening. “My father was a horrible drunk. When he tired of beating on my mother, he would start on me. You couldn’t fight back. He made it much worse when you fought back. After a time, he started in on Eros. And Orin. Nobody was safe here.”
My heart ached for him in that moment, and I wished I could take the pain out of his voice, even just for a moment.
He took me out the back door, and we walked to the edge of the lake. There was a chill in the air, and I wrapped my arms around myself. Cian picked up a rock and threw it across the water, the bouncing stone disappearing with the light of the moon.
“My father died here. Right on this lake.” There was no emotion in his voice now, and I gazed across the water, chills running up my spine. “He had been drinking too much, like usual. Started in on my mother, then came after me with a knife. That’s how I got these.”
He placed his hand over his chest, and I placed my hand on top of his. “It’s OK, you don’t have to tell me anymore.”
He shook his head. “No, you need to know.” He let my hand rest on his without moving. “I was able to get out of the house. Eros was running behind me, crying. My father, he just wouldn’t stop. He was going to kill us. I grabbed the oar from the canoe.” Cian nodded in the direction of the row of run-down-looking canoes to the side. “I hit him, and he fell in. And we just stood there, Eros and I, and watched him drown. My mother never forgave me. Even after everything he did to her. I was the monster to her, not him.”
“Oh, Cian.” I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed as tight as I could. “You are not to blame. You did what you had to do to survive. You did what anyone would do in that situation.” I rested my head against his chest, and we were silent for a moment. How horrible it must have been for him. I couldn’t imagine the fear they must have gone through.
He untangled my arms from around him and lifted my chin up. He wiped a tear from the side of my eye and stroked his fingers down my cheek. “I’m telling you this so you know what kind of man I am. What I’ve been through. Not for your pity.” His thumb grazed my bottom lip. “And so you know what kind of man Ryzen is.”
I stiffened and turned my head away, biting on my bottom lip. Yes, that why we were here, wasn’t it?
“A year after my father died, I met Ryzen at football camp the summer of our junior year. He was weak then, weaker than the other players. They picked on him, but I didn’t. I knew how it felt to be made to feel inferior, so I stuck up for him. We were best friends. He even convinced his father to pay for my college. I was in no position to turn it down, so I let him. It was just one of many mistakes I made.”
Cian grabbed my hand and brought me back inside the house. He sat on the edge of the couch, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. I sat next to him, my hand on his back. “What happened between you two?”
“After college, we started our business. And it was good. Great even. A lot of money was coming in. But then one day, it just wasn’t. In fact, we were losing money, and lots of it. I had let him handle the finances. I thought I could trust him. But he made a deal with the wrong type of people. The kind who like to hide their money from the IRS.”
My mouth fell open and I dug my nails into my palms. Nausea built inside my stomach, and I swallowed, hoping the sensation would go away.
“The icing on the cake was Gretchen, my girlfriend throughout all of high school. She stuck with me the entire time, through everything with my father and school. I could always count on her. What I didn’t count on was finding her in bed with Ryzen the night before our wedding.” Cian scoffed. “He said he was doing me a favor. Saving me from marrying a money-hungry whore.”
I gasped and stood from the couch. “But he said—”
Cian slammed his hand on the coffee table, and I flinched away from him. “I know what he said, Nova. He said I ruined his wedding. That I stole money from him and ruined our business. ThatIwas the monster, when in fact it’s him. He used my scars for sympathy to scam investors. He stole our money, then made me the criminal.” Cian stood and walked toward me. Every step he took forward, I took back until my back was pressed again the wall. “He told everyone—investors, the police, anyone who would listen—that I was the son of a drunk who he felt sorry for and had tried to help. And how did I repay him and his generosity? I stole from him. I stole his money, his fiancée, his dreams. He almost ruined me. It took six years to build my business back up from scratch, Nova. So don’t tell me what he said, because I’ve heard it a million times before. He’s a liar. Scum. And he deserves every bad thing coming his way.”
